Employees on leave over porn case

At least four Bexar County employees have been placed on administrative leave in connection with an ongoing countywide computer porn investigation.

County spokeswoman Laura Jesse said officials are contemplating termination because of violations of the county’s computer use policy.

On Monday, four employees from the Infrastructure Services Department, including several supervisors, received letters informing them they had 10 days to present arguments why they should not be terminated, said department head Joe Aceves.

“There is a proposal pending to dismiss them,” Aceves confirmed. “It is related to the porn investigation and unfortunately it involves some long-time county employees.”

Because they have not been charged with a crime, the individuals are not being identified.

Assistant District Attorney Ed Schweninger, the county’s legal counsel, said a determination has not yet been made about whether the employees violated any laws.

“There is one question about law violations, involving one employee,” he said. That employee isn’t one of the four infrastructure services workers who received their notifications Monday.

Two sources, who asked for anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak on the record, said four other individuals — two from the Purchasing Department and two from the Sheriff’s Office — also may be caught up in the continuing investigation.

It was unclear whether they too were placed on administrative leave. County Purchasing Officer Dan Garza declined to discuss the issue Tuesday. A sheriff’s spokeswoman said her office was unaware of any proposed termination of their employees.

Several weeks ago, an e-mail containing images of explicit sexual activity among adults was circulated on county computers, Jesse said.

It is not clear how many workers received the images, but the investigation centered on those who forwarded the explicit material. “Those who did not forward the material — no foul,” Jesse said.

After officials determined that laws were not broken — apparently in the case of all but one employee — she said, “it became a personnel issue for (Human Resources Department) to advise the department heads about appropriate discipline.”

She said those receiving the letter “have the opportunity to make their case before their department head.